ENG2018

Engineer Mechanics: Statics of Rigid Bodies

Lecture 1
General Principles

T U E S D AY, A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 2 3

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What to expect?
1. Mechanics and Historical Development
2. Fundamental Concepts
 Basic Quantities, Models, Newtonian Laws

3. Units of Measurement
 SI or FPS
4. Systemè International d’Unités (SI Units)
5. Numerical Calculations
 Dimensional Homogeneity, Significant Figures, &
Rounding Off
6. General Procedure for Analysis

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Mechanics and Historical Development

Mechanics (mēchanē – machine; mēkhanikos – manual labor)
• Branch of the physical sciences that’s concerned w/ the state of REST or MOTION of BODIES that
subjected to the action of Forces

• Deals w/ equilibrium of bodies that are

Statics of Rigid Bodies either at rest or at constant velocity

• Concerned bodies/systems w/
Dynamics of Rigid Bodies accelerated motion
• Kinematics & Kinetics
Engineering
Mechanics • Deals w/ relationship of bodies under
Mech. Of Deformable loads and stress & strain caused by
Bodies internal loads w/in the body.

• Understand the mechanics of fluids and

Fluid Mechanics forces on them.

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Mechanics and Historical Development

The origins of statics can be traced as early man learned to build, to use leverage, and to finally deciphering
its phenomenon. We can start our journey from Ancient Greece…
Archimedes of Syracuse
(287 – 212 B.C.)

• Dealt with principle of

“levers”

In this case – its principles can be formulated simply from measurements of geometry and
force (or a concept of it back then)
During ancient Greece and egypt to romans to the age of naval travel, we have uncovered
evidences of actual structures and designs back then that make use of early mechanics
principles.

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Mechanics and Historical Development

Over time, humanity was able to have a better grasp of its surroundings, asking the right questions, and
even building tools to assist us on our queries.
Archimedes of Syracuse Galileo Galilei Sir Isaan Newton
(287 – 212 B.C.) (Feb 15, 1564 – Jan 8, 1642) (Dec 25, 1642 – Mar 20, 1727)

• Dealt with principle of • Work consisted of experiments • Practically defined Classical

“levers” using pendulums and falling Mechanics w/ his Fundamental
bodies Laws of Motion & Universal
Gravitational Attraction

Over time, humanity was able to have a better grasp of its surroundings, asking the right
questions, and even building tools to assist us on our queries. First of many contributors
was Galileo on his experiments on falling bodies and pendulums.
Perhaps the most significant contributor was Sir Isaan Newton who practically defined
classical mechanics with his fundamental laws of mation and laws of universal gravitational
attraction. Not to mention invented calculus coz he got nothing to do in a pandemic.

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Mechanics and Historical Development

And ever since Newtonian laws were postulated, countless discoveries followed suit as it paved way to
more applications and a wider academic audience.
Leonhard Euler Jean le Rond d’Alembert Joseph-Louis Langrange Sir William Rowan Hamilton
(April 15, 1707 – Sept 18, 1783 (Nov 16, 1717 – Oct 29, 1783) (Jan 25, 1736 – April 10, 1813) (Aug 3, 1805 – Sept 2, 1865)

• Reformulated Newton’s • Expanded Newton’s 2nd law of • Made significant contributions to • Earlier works contributed to
Laws into his own Laws motion stating F – ma =0 the fields of analysis, number the development of Quantum
to better explain motion theory, and both classical and Mechanics
of rigid bodies. celestial mechanics.
• Major contributor of
calculus as well

And ever since Newtonian laws were postulated, countless discoveries followed suit as it
paved way to more applications

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Fundamental Concepts
Basic Quantities
Length, 𝐿 Time, 𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑇
• Used to locate position of point in • Conceived as succession of events
space & thereby describing the size of
a physical system

Mass, 𝑚 𝑜𝑟 𝑀 Force, F
• a measure of quantity of matter that’s • Push or pull exerted by one body on
usedd to compare the action of one another whether direct contact or at a
body to another distance

Length, Time and Mass are “Base Units” while Force is a “Derived Unit.”

As prelude to understanding principles of Engineering Mechanics, let’s first discuss

the basic quantities you’ll be using hand in hand.
They are four basic quantities used throughout Mechanics – Length , Mass, Time,
and force.

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Fundamental Concepts
Models or Idealizations are used to simplify applications of theory.

Particle Rigid Body Concentrated Force

A particle has mass but size can be A rigid body can be considered as We can represent the actual
neglected a combination of a large number of loading assumed to act at a point
particles in which all the particles on a body
remain at a fixed distance from one
another, both before and after
applying a load.

Actual

Ideal

Models or idealization are used in mechanics in order to simplify application of the

theory. Here we consider 3 important models

As a particle, the geometry of the body will not be involved in the analysis
Under Rigid body, deformation in real life is often seldom to structures/ machines –
perfect for rigid body models assumption for analysis
Under Concentrated forces – such can be represented provided the area over load
is applied to is very small compared to overall size of the body.

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Fundamental Concepts – Newton’s Laws

Newton’s Three Laws of Motion:
1st Law. A particle at rest or moving along a 2nd Law. A particle acted upon by an unbalance 3rd Law. The mutual forces of action & reaction
straight line at constant velocity tends to remain at force, F, experiences acceleration, a, that has the between two particles are equal, opposite, and
the same state provided not subjected by an same direction as the force & a magnitude directly collinear
unbalance force. proportional to the force.

Newton’s Law of Gravitational Attraction:

Newton postulated a law governing attraction If we assume the earth to be a non-rotating sphere of
between two particles. Stated Mathematically as, constant density and having a mass 𝑚 = 𝑀 ,
then if 𝑟 is the distance between
𝑚 𝑚 the earth’s center and the particle, we have
𝐹=𝐺 𝑚𝑀
𝑟 𝑊=𝐺
where: 𝑟
𝐹 = force of gravitation between Letting: 𝑔 = 𝐺
the two particles
𝐺 = universal constant of gravitation; 𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔
according to experimental evidence,
𝑚 ,𝑚 = mass of each of the two particles
𝑟 = distance between the two particles m ft
𝑔 = 9.80665 ≈ 32.174
s s
m
𝐺 = 6.673 10
kg · s

There’s a reason why classical mechanics is also called Newtonian physics – he

practically help shaped the very branch of science among his other contributions.

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Fundamental Concepts – Units of Measurement

The standard units for the “International System of Units” (SI) and the “U.S. Customary” (FPS)

Common and standard SI units and customary US English units.

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Fundamental Concepts – Units of Measurement

Conversion of Units

Length (exact) Mass (exact) Force (exact)

1 in = 2.54 cm 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg 1 lb = 16 ounce oz

1 ft = 12 in 1 ton = 2,000 lb 1 N = 100,000 dyne
1 yard = 3 ft 1 metric tonne = 1,000 kg 1 kip = 1,000 lb
1 furlong = 660 ft
1 mile = 5,280 ft
1 mile = 1,609.344 m
1 nautical mile = 1,852 m

Common SI to English and vice versa

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Fundamental Concepts – Units of Measurement

Additional Multiple
Exponential Form Prefix SI Symbol
10 tera T
10 peta P
10 exa E
10 zetta Z
10 yotta Y

Additional Submultiple
Exponential Form Prefix SI Symbol
10 pico p
10 femto f
10 atto a
10 zepto z
10 yocto y

The beauty with SI unit of measurement or our metric system, we have prefixes to
represent the scale of very small or very large numbers.

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Fundamental Concepts
Rules for Use of SI System*

Quantities defined by several units which are With the exception of the base unit the kilogram,
multiples of one another are separated by a dot in general avoid the use of a prefix in the
to avoid confusion with prefix notation. denominator of composite units.

·
Example: N = ,m·s Example: should be expressed as or MPa

The exponential power on a unit having a prefix When performing calculations, represent the
refers to both the unit and its prefix. numbers in terms of their base or derived units
by converting all prefixes to powers of 10. The final
result should then be expressed using a single
prefix. Also, after calculation, it is best to keep
Example: 10 mm = 100 mm numerical values between 𝟎. 𝟏 and 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎.
NOT 100 m m

Example: 50 kN 60 nm = 50 10 N 60 10 m
= 3000 10 N · m = 3 10 N·m
= 3 mN · m

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Fundamental Concepts
Numerical Calculations
Dimensional Homogeneity Rounding Off Numbers
Each term must be expressed in the same units. As a general rule, any numerical figure
Example: ending in five or greater is rounded up
1 and a number less than five is rounded down.
𝑆 = 𝑉 𝑡 + 𝑎 𝑡
2
𝐿 1 𝐿
𝐿 = 𝑇 + 𝑇
𝑇 2 𝑇

Significant Figures Calculations

The number of significant figures contained in any Do not round off calculations until expressing the
number determines the accuracy of the number. final result. This procedure maintains precision
throughout the series of steps to the final solution.

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Fundamental Concepts
General Procedure for Analysis

 Read the problem. Really read them carefully.

 Write and tabulate the problem data. Draw diagrams to really visualize the
problem when necessary.
 Base on the ask, apply relevant principles (mathematical form). Write
dimensionally homogenous equations.
 Solve the necessary equations and write answer with no more than 3 to 4
significant figures.
 Review the answer if it makes sense. Use your technical judgement and
common sense to arrive if it’s reasonable or not.

Pg 12 of hibbler pretty much sums it up. I’ll try a few rules as general that I
personally use

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Fundamental Concepts - Let’s do Some Exercises!

Convert 2 km/h to m/s How many ft/s is this?

Example 1.1 [Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics, 14th Edition. 2016.]

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Fundamental Concepts - Let’s do Some Exercises!

Convert the quantities 300 𝑙𝑏 𝑠 and 52 𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑔/𝑓𝑡3 to appropriate SI units.

Example 1.2 [Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics, 14th Edition. 2016.]

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Fundamental Concepts - Let’s do Some Exercises!

Evaluate each of the following and express with SI units having an appropriate prefix:
(a) (50 mN)(6 GN), (b) (400 mm) (0.6 MN)^2, (c) 45MN^3 ∕ 900Gg. Let’s have the answer in 3 significant figures.

Example 1.3 [Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics, 14th Edition. 2016.]

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Fundamental Concepts - Let’s do Some Exercises!

Evaluate each of the following and express with SI units having an appropriate prefix:
(a) (50 mN)(6 GN), (b) (400 mm) (0.6 MN)^2, (c) 45MN^3 ∕ 900Gg. Let’s have the answer in 3 significant figures.

Example 1.3 [Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics, 14th Edition. 2016.]

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More exercises. Kindly Answer the following:

Chapter 1 Problems pg. 15 [Engineering Mechanics: Statics & Dynamics, 14th Edition. 2016.]

Let’s do some exercises. Let’s walk over some samples provided by hibbler. While
already laid out in the books, best to walk through them. I’m using the 14th edition of
hibbler.

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